Optional Work 3: more design work
If you would like to achieve a Silver CREST Award, the suggestions below will help you to extend your robot project.
Remember to save copies of your work and/or take photographs, to use in your final report.
3D printing
You can use your Tinkercad account to design extra parts for your robot to be 3D printed.
Guidelines
Please consider the following things when designing your parts:
- Keep the pieces small, approximately the volume of a 5cm cube.
- 3D printers cannot print in mid-air, so avoid over-hanging parts in your designs.
If you have a part ready to print, please send us an email with the following information:
- The name of your design (so we can find it on Tinkercad)
- What the part is for (if we have lots of parts to print, we will focus on the ones that are necessary for your robot project)
- Why did you choose to 3D print this design instead of using another tool?
- Which colour you would like it printed in (we do not have every colour, so suggest a couple of back-up colours as well).
If we cannot print your file for any reason, we will let you know what the problem is.
Laser cutting
You can use your Tinkercad account to design extra parts for your robot to be laser cut.
Guidelines
Please consider the following things when designing your parts:
- Keep the pieces small, no bigger than an A5 sheet of paper.
- Laser cutters can only cut flat things, so make sure your design is not 3D.
If you have a part ready to cut, please send us an email with the following information:
- The name of your design (so we can find it on Tinkercad)
- What the part is for (if we have lots of parts to cut, we will focus on the ones that are necessary for your robot project)
- Why did you choose to laser cut this design instead of using another tool?
If we cannot cut your file for any reason, we will let you know what the problem is.
Alternative CAD software
Tinkercad isn't the only software available for design work. Other software can be challenging to learn, but will allow you to design more complicated things in the future.
Below is a list of free software you might like to investigate (but there are lots of others as well!). To try them out,
- Download or create an account
- See if they have tutorials, or look on YouTube for some help
- Experiment and see what you can create. One suggestion is to replicate something you have already made in Tinkercad - how is the new software different?
- Do not expect to make something perfect on your first go, it will take a lot of practice!